Most people think of water loss as something physical: a leak, a break, a pipe failure buried underground.
And while those are real problems, they’re only part of the story.
There’s another side of water loss that doesn’t make noise. It doesn’t flood streets or trigger emergency calls. It shows up quietly in missed revenue, inefficient operations, and decisions made without the full picture.
That’s where my role comes in.
Bridging the Gap Between Data and Action
At Olea Edge Analytics, my job isn’t just to sell a product. It’s to help utilities see what they couldn’t see before, and more importantly, act on it.
Most utilities I talk to are doing a lot right. They have AMI, SCADA, and testing programs in place.
But even with all of that, there are still gaps:
- Large meters that haven’t been tested in years
- Pressure zones that are “stable”… until they’re not
- Revenue loss that exists, but can’t be precisely located
The challenge isn’t effort. It’s visibility.
What we bring is continuous insight. Not a one-time test. Not a snapshot. A real understanding of how assets are performing every day.
When It Clicks: Real Data, Real Impact
We’ve seen this play out firsthand in places like Phoenix and San Francisco.
Across those deployments, what stood out wasn’t just the technology. It was the reality of what was actually happening in the field.
In Phoenix, nearly 50% of meters showed some form of condition, with about 5% classified as critical failures. In San Francisco, it was around 31% with conditions and again roughly 5% critical.
These aren’t broken meters. They’re still spinning. Bills are still going out.
But they’re under-registering.
And when you translate that into dollars, it adds up fast: over $270K annually in Phoenix and nearly $300K in San Francisco from a relatively small sample size alone.
That’s when the conversation changes.
It’s no longer about whether there’s a problem. It’s about how quickly you can act on it.
The Part I Enjoy Most
The best part of this job isn’t closing deals.
It’s the follow-up calls.
It’s hearing things like:
- “We had no idea that meter was that far off.”
- “We just recovered revenue we didn’t know we were losing.”
- “This changed how we’re prioritizing our system.”
That’s when it becomes real.
Because this isn’t about dashboards or devices. It’s about giving utilities confidence in their decisions.
What We Do Well
If there’s one thing Olea does exceptionally well, it’s connecting what’s been siloed.
- Meter performance
- Pressure behavior
- Operational decision-making
Most utilities look at these separately.
But in reality, they’re all connected.
When you combine continuous meter analytics with real-time pressure monitoring, you start to see patterns you couldn’t see before. You move from reactive to proactive. From guessing to knowing.
